Citizens Commission on Human Rights International Urges the FDA to Follow UK Warnings on Antidepressant Suicide Risk and Persistent Sexual Dysfunction

The UK’s drug regulatory agency has expanded suicide-risk information to all ages and formally recognizes antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction

Los Angeles, CA, Oct. 23, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has announced new antidepressant safety measures for all patients. The changes follow a review prompted by concerns from patients and families and require clearer suicide-risk information for patients of all ages—which is currently limited to children and young adults. For the first time, the measures also recognize Post-SSRI Sexual Dysfunction (PSSD) from certain antidepressants, which can continue even after the drugs are stopped.[1] Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR), a 57-year mental health industry watchdog, points out that the MHRA has once again acted before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). CCHR calls on the FDA to issue equivalent warnings.

The FDA must align U.S. labeling and patient information with the MHRA’s updated measures.

In December 2003, the MHRA was the first to issue warnings that SSRI antidepressants increased suicide and self-harm risk in young people, brought to their attention by Dr. David Healy, professor of psychiatry at Bangor University in the UK.[2] The FDA had relevant data for decades. A 1985 memo from the manufacturer of the SSRI antidepressant fluoxetine reported a suicide rate for the drug 5.6 times higher than for the older tricyclic antidepressants.[3] In 1991, CCHR helped secure an FDA Psychopharmacologic Drugs Advisory Committee hearing into antidepressants causing suicidal ideation and violent behavior; the panel, many with conflicts of interest with pharmaceutical companies, negated the risks.[4]

In October 2004, almost a year after the MHRA’s warning, the FDA added a black-box warning for suicidal ideation in those 18 and younger, later extended to age 24. This left the implication that the risk ends on a person’s 25th birthday.[5]

Dr. Healy, also an expert psychopharmacologist, warned in 2009 that “antidepressants pose a risk of suicide in all age groups,” citing elevated relative risks for completed suicide in ages 18–64 based on FDA trial data.[6]

In 2018, Healy and colleagues also raised concerns about antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction that can persist after stopping the drugs. Healy was among 22 international experts who petitioned the FDA to require prominent warnings that these drugs can reduce genital sensitivity—sometimes within 30 minutes of the first dose—with effects that may last for years or indefinitely after discontinuation.[7]

The FDA has not issued class-wide labeling to match the petition.

The MHRA is adding “Post SSRI Sexual Dysfunction” to patient information leaflets for the antidepressants citalopram, escitalopram, duloxetine, fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, paroxetine, sertraline, venlafaxine, amitriptyline, and nortriptyline. Symptoms include genital numbness, loss of libido, erectile dysfunction, and difficulty reaching orgasm.

In the U.S., psychiatrist Josef Witt-Doerring, a former FDA medical officer, reported that many taking antidepressants may experience emotional numbing, loss of sexual sensation, and detachment from pleasure—effects that can persist indefinitely.[8] Harvard’s Dr. Joseph Glenmullen warned in Prozac Backlash that SSRIs caused sexual dysfunction in up to 60% of users.[9]

Other regulators have acted. In 2019, the European Medicines Agency adopted product information updates to warn that SSRIs and SNRIs may cause long-lasting sexual dysfunction that may continue despite discontinuation of treatment. In 2021, Health Canada completed a safety review and also announced updates to the labeling and product safety information to reflect the risk.[10]

In the UK, healthcare professionals must now discuss suicide risk and persistent sexual dysfunction when starting antidepressants, changing doses, or reviewing treatment.[11] UK Health chiefs announced that patient information leaflets will be updated to make the risks more prominent, through the use of boxed warnings. “Patients need clear and accessible information about the benefits and risks of medicines so they can make informed decisions,” Dr Alison Cave, chief safety officer at the MHRA, said.[12]

IQVia Total Patient Tracker Database for 2020 revealed 45,204,771 Americans were taking antidepressants, including 2,154,118 in the 0-17 age group.

CCHR urges the FDA to align U.S. labeling and patient information with the MHRA’s updated measures. Clear, prominent warnings on suicide risk for all ages and on persistent sexual dysfunction would give American patients and families the same information already being provided in the UK and Europe. Until the FDA acts, millions of people taking these drugs are at risk, without the full safety disclosures now required elsewhere.

CCHR was established in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and professor of psychiatry, Thomas Szasz, to investigate and expose psychiatric human rights abuses. It is responsible for hundreds of reforms affording patients safeguards and redress for harm.

Sources:

[1] “Antidepressants: new safety measures for all patients to improve communication of the risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours and persistent sexual dysfunction,” Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, 15 Oct. 2026

[2] Erica Goode, “British Warning on Antidepressant Use for Youth,” The New York Times, 11 Dec. 2003

[3] Dr. Richard DeGrandpre, “Anti-depressants may be hazardous to your health,” Hartford Advocate, 20 Aug 2002; “Memos Display Drug Firms’ Optimism Officials Were Confident FDA Would Back Them On Suicide, Violence Issues Involving Paxil, Prozac; The Documents Seem To Show That FDA Officials Were Reassuring Drug Companies While Reviews Went Forward,” Hartford Courant, 21 Sept. 2003

[4] Anastasia Toufexis, “Medicine: Warnings About a Miracle Drug,” TIME, 29 July 1990

[5] “Expanding the Black Box – Depression, Antidepressants, and the Risk of Suicide,” New England Journal of Medicine, 7 June 2007

[6] David Healy, “Are Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors a Risk Factor for Adolescent Suicide? Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 2009 Feb;54(2):69-71

[7] David Healy, “Citizen petition: Sexual side effects of SSRIs and SNRIs,” Int J Risk Saf Med, 4 June 2018

[8] Jan Jekielek, “Antidepressants Are Having Horrific Effects on Sexual Function: Dr. Josef Witt-Doerring,” American Thought Leaders, The Epoch Times, 26 Mar. 2025

[9] Joseph Glenmullen, M.D., Prozac Backlash, (Simon & Schuster, NY, 2000), p. 8

[10] “Persistent Sexual Dysfunction After Drug Withdrawal,” European Medicines Agency, Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee, PRAC Recommendations on Signals Adopted at the 13–16 May 2019 PRAC Meeting, EMA/PRAC/265212/2019, June 11, 2019; "Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) and Serotonin-Norepinephrine Reuptake Inhibitors (SNRIs): Assessing the Potential Risk of Sexual Dysfunction Despite Treatment Discontinuation,” 6 Jan. 2021, Government of Canada

[11] Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, 15 Oct. 2026

[12] Zoe Hardy, “Antidepressants can trigger sexual problems, drug watchdogs warn - pill boxes updated with new safety alert,” The Daily Mail, 15 Oct. 2026

About Citizens Commission on Human Rights International

Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) is an international mental health industry watchdog, established by the Church of Scientology, which has helped enact more than 190 worldwide reforms that protect the public from abuse.

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